Automatic weft-replenishing loom.



E. S. STIMPSON.

AUTOMATIC WEFT REPLENISHING oom.

' APPLIOAIION FILED AUG.13,1904. I 930,631. Patented Aug. 10,1909.

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APPLICATION FILED AUG.13,1904. 930,631. Patented Aug. 10. 1909.

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' Patented Aug. 10, 1909.

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. APPLIGATION FILED Ami}. 13,1904. Patented Aug. 10

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' E. S. STIMPSON. AUTOMATIC WEFT REPLENISHING LOOM.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 13, 1904. 930,631. I Patented Aug, 10, 1909.

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. awuantoz 4 62! EdwardSSZzhwsozz n rrn STATES PATENT omen EDWARD s. STIMPSON, or HOPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO DRAPERcoMPANY, a or HOPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION or MAINE.

AUTOMATIC WEFT-REPLENISHING LOOM.

No. 930,631. Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Aug. 10, 1909.

'Application filed August 13, 1904. Serial No. 220,638.

To all whom it may concern: pensated for by shaping the slack thread Be it known that I, EDWARD S. STIMPsoN, controller.

of Hopedale, in the county of Worcester and The difliculties incident to the construc- State of Massachusetts, have invented certions set forth in the two patents just men- 5 tain new and useful Improvements in Au tioned were practically overcome by sub- 60 tomatic \Veft-Replenishing Looms, of which stituting a rotary hopper and a rotary weftthe following is a specification. end-holder for the stationary vertical hopper In the original Northrop loom as set forth d he Single fixed Weft-end-holder of the in th United States Patent No. 454,810, patents mentioned. These improvements granted June 23, 1891, the reserve weft-carare set forth in the United States patent of 65 riers were located in a substantially vertical Northrop, No. 529,940, and they have been magazine or hopper and gravity was reput 1nto extenslve commercial use, being li d on to f d th w ftar i r to th characteristics of the well-known commertransferrer or pusher as the weft-car clal Northrop loom. In accordance with riers were inserted from time to time into hls patent the weft-carriers are mounted 70 the running shuttle on the lay when the 11 a rotary magazlnewhloh 1s rotated step condition of the weft in the shuttle demandby s ep s t e I'unmng Weft requires reed replenishment. In accordance with this p hment and the weft-earners have no patent, the butts of the weft-carriers were v m n Independent of the hopper except held within a substantially vertical channel When transferred by the transferrer into 75 with which the hopper was provided. The pera ve positlon 011 the lay. Accordingly ends of the weft-threads of all of the 'wefth r l no anger of binding or refusal of carriers were fastened to a single stationary the We car ers to move when required. weft-stud or holder and a vertical guide subch thread from each weft carrier is led stantially parallel with the hopper was rever lndependent guides carried by the roso lied upon to keep the threads from entanry hopper and rotating therewith and is gling. In the operation of this loom pracsecured to a rotating weft-stud So that the tical difficulties were encountered owing to l g h f he thread from the Weft-carrier the slackening of the threads as the. weftto th weft-stud or holder remains constant carriers descended from time to time in the lrlng he o cupancy of the hopper by each 85 hopper, thereby causing the threads to bee oarrler. Consequently, there is no come entangled, caught and broken by movo e ng 0f the thread and no resulting ing parts of the loom, and because the weftentanglement or encounter with moving carriers would bind in the vertical channel parts of the loom.

of the hopper and would thereby prevent the XtBII IVe practical experience with ro- 90 downward feed of th weft-car ier Attary hoppers and weft-end-holders of the last tempts were made to cure the first of these vlfl rned Northrop patent shows opportunity difiiculties, namely the entangling of, the for improvement. The rotary hopper has threads and their breakage through slacka llmlted capacity, thus requiring refilling ness, one of these expedients being illusduring each day. The capacity of the origi- 95 trated in the United States patent of Northnal rotary hopper has been materially inrop, No. 470,590, granted Mar. 8, 1892. In creased by subsequent improvements in its this patent the threads pass over a bowed constructlon and 1ts operating mechanism, guide as the weft-carriers descend in the as shown, for example, in the United States hopper, the contour of the guide being inpatent of Stimpson, No. 710,023, granted 100 tended to compensate for the increasing Sep. 30, 1902, but there is a necessary limit slackness of the thread. This slack threadto the increase of capacity by thus increasing controlling guide, however, proved an ineflithe size of the rotary hopper. cient expedient, first, because it was impos- Another difliculty which has arisen is the sible to exactly compensate for the increasbreakage of the end of the weft-thread when 1 5 ing slackness of the thread and, further, bea fresh weftcarrier is inserted into the cause it involved some strain on the thread running shuttle. This breakage is objecwhich would cause the thread to unwind tionable because the freshly inserted weftfrom the weft-carriers, thus introducing an carrier fails to lay a threadin the shed, two

uncertain element which could not be comadditional blank picks result, and it is then r has shut down for the night, thus avoiding filled away from the loom.

I ejected from the shuttle and a second fresh weft-carrier is inserted. As a result the capacity of'the hopper is diminished and there is danger of a thin place in the cloth. Attentive study of this ditficulty shows that a large percentage of the breakage is due to the weakening of the weft-thread at the points'where it passes over the guides (with which the rotary hopper is equipped) on its way from the weft-carrier to the weftend-holder. All the parts of the loom are subjected to an incessant vibration and jar and each thread is thus constantly vibrating many thousands of times against its guides during the time between the insertion of each weft-carrier into the hopper and its final discharge into the running shuttle. This constant vibration on the same spots of the thread tends to weaken the same, and as the end of the thread is firmly held by the weft-end-holder the shock incident to the first traverse of the shuttle with the fresh weft-carrier causes breakage.

Many of the criticisms which have been suggested have been avoided by the inven tion of Melvin L. Stone, as set forth in his United States, Patent No. 921,909, May 18, 1909. In accordance with the Stone invention a magazine having a plurality of channels for holding corresponding stacks of superimposed weft-carriers is substituted for the rotary hopper, and as the result the magazine has such capacity as to require no attention during an entire day so that its refilling may be accomplished after the mill any cessation in the running of the loom and all work of the weaver in the replenishment of the magazine. Also, the Stone magazine is readily detachable so that it may be re- The difficulties of the loom of the original Northrop patent No. 4E54E,81O due to the binding of the weftcarriers as they descend by gravity in the vertical channels are avoided in the Stone invention by furnishing each weft-carrier with an enlarged removable tip and providing guide channels therefor as well as for the butts of the weft-carriers. These removable tips are also arranged to act as individual weft-end-holders, thus avoiding difficulties due to slack threads. This necessitates the employment of the detachable weft-endholders, the attention necessarily involved thereby, and mechanism for removing the "weft-end-holders preparatory to their insertion into the running shuttle. Accordingly there is not realized the full economic ad vantage of the great holding capacity of the Stone magazine and its capacity for ready removal from the loom to enable it to be refilled remote from the loom.

Important improvements in detail upon the Stone inventlon are contained in the 111- vention' of William S. Southwick, as set forth in his pending United States application Serial No. 201,054, filed Apr. 1, 190%. In accordance with the Sonthwick invention the detachable magazine is pivoted and swings by gravity and the mechanism is improved in many respects.

"he object of the present invention is to retain and utilize all of the fundamental advances in the art embodied in the Stone and Southwick inventions and at the same time to gain the full economic advantage thereof without necessitating the employment of the detachable weft-end-holders, thus avoiding the necessity for handling the same, the mechanism for ejecting them, and the possibility of thread breakage due to the necessarily forcible ejection of the individual weft-end-holders.

In accordance with the present invention, the magazine is preferably of a capacity to provide for a large number of groups of weft-carriers, is preferably removable, and is preferably pivoted to the stand therefor in accordance with the inventions of Stone and of Southwick. The magazine is, however, constructed so as to cooperate only with the butt ends of the weft-carriers. The tip ends of the weft-carriers extend outward beyond any portion of the magazine and are wholly free from the magazine. in each group or stack feed downwardly by gravity as each stack is brought into cooperative relation with the transferrer, which inserts them one by one into operative posi tion on the lay; and in order that this may be done without the binding which was incident to the operation of the guide channel of the first Northrop patent, No. 45 L810, an important feature of the present invention resides in the means for avoiding such binding. To this end each guide channel of the magazine is provided with means for limiting the endwise and lateral movements of the weft-carriers while permitting their inclination relatively to the length of the channel. As the result of these limiting means the weft-carriers are maintained in proper position so that they are brought accurately into position relatively to the transferrer; and, owing to the provisions for permitting the inclination of the weft-carriers relatively to the length of the guide channel, the weftcarriers are free to adopt any position which their contour or unguided tips demand so that there is no possibility of binding. The result is that the weft-carriers are fed out by gravity from the magazine with accuracy and uniform success.

Another important feature of the present invention consists in the manner in which the weft-ends are taken care of. The tip ends of the weft-carriers are free from any restraining or guiding means (except the lowermost weft-carrier of each reserve stack or group) and the weft-ends belonging to The weft-carriers the weft-carriers in each stack are all conducted through suitable guideways for that purpose, there being appropriate fixed guideways for the threads of each stack or group of weft-carriers in the magazine. After each group of weft-ends has been put into proper relation with its guideways they are connected to a movable and yielding weft-endholder. This weft-end-holder con-- sists of a weight having suitable provisions for the ready attachment of the weft-ends thereto, and it is suspended freely beneath the thread guides by means of the weft-ends themselves. As the result of this arrangement, as the threads become slack owing to the downward feed of the weft-carriers, the weighted weftend-holder descends, thus taking up the slack and at the same time bringing a fresh portion of each weft thread into contact with the thread guides. As the result, there is no entanglement of the threads or encounter between them and moving parts of the loom, and when a weft-carrier is inserted into the running shuttle a fresh portion of its thread is then bearing upon the thread guides and there is no spot in the thread which has been so far weakened by incessant vibration as to endanger the breakage of the thread during the first traverse of its weftcarrier through the shed. Moreover, the weighted weft-end-holder yields sufficiently during the initial paying out of the thread as its weft-carrier performs its first traverse through the shed so that there is no sudden shock upon the thread which might tend to break it. The result is that thread breakage is reduced to a minimum and, since the magazine may be filled away from the loom and by an attendant other than the weaver, all duties of the weaver with respect to the weft are substantially eliminated.

In connection with these main features of improvement the present invention includes other important structural features which will be set forth in connection with the detailed description of a specific embodiment of the invention.

One embodiment of the present improvements is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side View of the magazine and its cooperating parts looking at the outer side of the magazine. Fig. 2 is a view of the same parts looking at the magazine from the inside. Fig. 3 is a front view of the same. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal vertical section of the magazine and of a portion of its supporting stand. Fig. 5 is a plan view of the parts shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3.

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal vertical section in aplane indicated by the line 66 in Fig. 5 and looking toward the right Flg. 7 is a detail view of one of the yielding weft end.

holders. Fig. 8 is a cross-section of the magazine and its supporting stand, the sec-' tion passing through the magazine pivot. Fig. 9 is a bottom view of the magazine. Fig. 10 is a view of the inner side of the lower portion of the magazine. Fig. 11 is a view of the outer side of the lower end of the magazine. Fig. 12 is a vertical section in the plane indicated by the line 12-12 in Fig. 5, looking toward the rear. Fig. 13 is a plan view of the support for the tips of the weft-carriers, the thread platform, and the open thread guides. Fig. 14 is a vertical section in the plane indicated by the line 14-14 in Fig. 5 looking toward the left. Fig. 15 is a section taken in the same plane as Fig. 6, but showing only a portion ofthe parts shown in Fig. 6, and illustrating the action of the retainer for the tips of the weft-carriers. Fig. 16 is a side view of the escapement feeler which controls the movement of the magazine. Fig. 17 is a cross-section of the escapement feeler in a plane indicated by the line 17-17 in Fig. 16 and looking toward the right. Fig. 18 is a plan view of the escapement feeler. Fig. 19 is a vertical section of the escape ment feeler and of the transferrer in the plane indicated by the line 1919 in Fig. 16. Fig. 20 is a detail sectional view illustrating the retainer for the tips of the weftcarriers. Fig. 21 is a vertical longitudinal section in the plane indicated by the line 621, in Fig. 5, and looking toward the left, illustrating the transferrer, escapement feeler and magazine in their normal state of rest. F 22 is a section similar to Fig. 21, but illustrating the same parts in the act of feeding the magazine. Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive and Figs. 12 to 20 inclusive are drawn to a standard scale. Figs. 7, 8, 10 and 11 are drawn to a scale three times that of the standard scale. Figs. 9, 21 and 22 are drawn to a scale one-half as large as that of Fig. 8. v The present improvements are applicable to an automatic weft-replenishing loom such as the well-known Northrop loom set forth in the Northrop patents already mentioned. In the said Northrop loom there is employed a weft-thread controlled starting-shaft which is rocked in order to set in motion the weft replenishing mechanism whenever there is a necessity for the replenishment of weft in the running shuttle due either to the exhaustion, breakage or approaching exhaustion of the weft in use. The effect of the movement of this starting shaft is to bring a transferrer into action which transfers a fresh weft-carrier from the hopper, battery or magazine into the shuttle on the lay, at the same time ejecting the spent weft-carrier from the shuttle. The organization and operation of this portion of the mechanism are now so well-known as to require no specific illustration and description, and are fully set forth in the Northrop patents already mentioned. It is with such mechanism that the present improvements are employed and in the accompanying drawings only the transferrer of this mechanism is shown. Concerning this transferrer A it is sufiicient to say that it is mounted to swing upon a fixed stud a (see Figs. 5 and 21), that it is held normally uplifted by a spring I), that it is moved downwardly as shown inv Fig. 22) to transfer a weftcarrier from the magazine into the shuttle and to eject the spent weft-carrier, and after the transfer has been made it is restored to its normal elevated position by said spring. This transferrer is actuated whenever the condition of the weft in the running shuttle demands, and is governed in its action by the condition of the weft-thread, so that it is a weftthread-controlled transferrer. The transferrer has a finger 0 (see Fig. 22) which cooperates with the butt of a weftcarrier, and. a second finger d (Fig. 6) to cooperate with the tip of a weft-carrier during the transferring operation.

The weft-carriers employed may be of any suitable construction adapted to hold weft-thread and to be inserted into a shuttle automatically. There is shown in Fig. 8 a weft-carrier B consisting of a bobbin, having at its butt projecting retaining rings a which are adapted to be grasped by suitable spring fingers carried by the shuttle in accordance with the usual practice in the Northrop loom and as set forth, for eX- ample, in the U.- S. patent of Northrop No. 454,807, dated June 23, 1891.

The fixed stud a. on which the transferrer A swings is secured to a fixed stand C which is adapted to be secured to one end of the breast beam of the loom so that the transferrer will overhang the shuttle-box at one end of the lay when the lay is at front center. This stand is appropriately constructed so as to accommodate the improved magazine D and to afford appropriate guides and supports for the weft-carrier and the threads.

The magazine D is pivoted to the stand and the magazine is provided with a plurality of longitudinal channels E, which are adapted to receive a group or stack of weftcarriers. The magazine may have as many channels as desired and may be of any convenient height. As shown, the magazine has four channels E and its capacity is sufficient to hold more than enough weftcarriers to serve the loom for an entire day. The magazine is so related to its cooperating parts that only one of the stacks of weft-carriers supported by it is in cooperative relation with the transferrer C, the remaining stacks constituting reserve stacks of weft-carriers which are only brought into cooperative relation with the transferrer when the weft-carriers of the preceding stacks have been exhausted. In order that this relation may exist the magazine channels E are open at their bottoms and the channel containing the stack of weft-carriers in action con'nnunicates with a guidechute G which directs the weft-carriers to the position adjacent to and beneath the actuating fingers c and (Z of the transferrer. The reserve stacks of weft-carriers contained in the other channels of the magazine are supported and held out of action by m aims of fixed supports G and IT. The support G is immediately beneath the open mouths of the channels and its receives the butts of the weft-carriers. It is best shown in Figs. 5 and 12. The other support H is beneath the tip ends of the reserve stacks of weft-carriers and it receives and supports the tips of the lowermost weft-carrier of each reserve stack. It is best shown in Figs. 5, 6, 12 and 13. The bottom weft-carrier of each reserve stack is thus supported both at butt and at tip and it in turn supports the overlying weft-earriers belonging to its own stack. The receiving upper faces of these two supports G- and H are'concentric with the axis on which the magazine swings. These two fixed supports G and H terminate at their forward ends in a downwardly discharging guide-chute, which is composed of two guide-ways I and J, the guide-way I (see Figs. 21 and 22) being for the butts of the weft-carriers, while the guide-way J (see Figs. 6 and 15) is for the tips of the weft-carriers. When the magazine is in such a position that one of its channels E is in register with the guide-chute composed of these two guide-ways, as is shown tobe the case with the forward channel, E in Fig. 21, the stack of weft-carriers drops down by gravity within the channel and through the guide-chute until their further progress is stopped by appropriate devices with which the loom is equipped. Vhen the guide-chute is thus filled with weft-carriers, as shown in Fig. 21, the lowermost weft-carrier is immediately beneath the transferrer ready to be transferred into the running shuttle by the descent of the transferrer when the condition of the weft therein demands.

The weft-carriers are maintained in the guide-chute by instrumentalities well-known in the art. These instrumentalities include a fixed stop 7 and a spring-upheld yielding finger g for the butt of the lowermost weftcarrier (see Fig. 22), the said spring-finger being such as is shown in the S. patent of Stimpson, No. 66%,790, dated Dec. 25, 1900. The other or tip end of the lowermost weft-carrier is supported by a springupheld yielding-finger it (see Fig. 6) which is similar to that shown in the said Stimpson patent No. 66%,790. hen the transferrer descends these spring-fingers g and h yield to permit the passage of the lowermost weftcarrier. After the forward channel ofthe magazine has been exhausted of. weft-carriers, owing to their successive transfer into the running shuttle, the magazine is fed forward to bring its second channel into cooperation with the guide-chute, the stacks of weft-carriers in the remaining channels being still upheld by the supports G and H. This action continues until all of the reserve stacks of weft-carriers have been brought into cotiperation with the guide-chute and with the transferrer. This forward intermittent swing of the magazine is effected by mechanism similar to that set forth in the pending application of Southwick, Serial No. 201,054, already mentioned. The magazine has on its rear side outwardly and downwardly projecting teeth 2' which a are spaced apart in accordance with the width of the channels E and these teeth cooperate with an escapement lever, or escapement feeler, K. This escapement feeler K is pivotally hung upon the fixed stud a concentrically with and alongside the transferrer. This escapement feeler is yieldingly connected with the transferrer by a spring j (see Fig. 19) which is interposed between sockets carried by the feeler and transferrer respectively. The normal position of the transferrer is its upper position (see Fig. 21), and it thus maintains the escapement feeler up by means of a laterally projecting pin Z- (see Fig. which extends underneath a reciprocally projecting pin Z on the feeler, which is best shown in Figs. 5 and 18. lVhen the transferrer descends to put a fresh weft-carrier into the running shuttle, the connecting spring j between the transferrer and escapement feeler is put under tension and endeavors to lower the escapement lever likewise. Normally, however, this descent of the escapement feeler is prevented by its free end coming in contact with one of the weft-carriers in the guide-chute, as will be evident from an inspection of Fig. 21. As the result, a detent m at the rear end of the escapement feeler remains in contact with one of the teeth 2' on the magazine and hence the forward movement of the magazine is prevented. When, however, all of the weftcarriers in the magazine channel in communication with the guide-chute have been exhausted, and the weft-carriers in the guide-chute have also been exhausted until only two are left, the weft-carriers then afford no obstruction to the descent of the escapement feeler when the transferrer acts. Accordingly the escapement feeler then moves down underthe stress of the connecting spring j to the position shown in Fig. 22, thereby freeing the detent m of the escapement feeler from the toothz' of the magazine. Consequently, the magazine then swings forward by gravity but its forward swing is limited by means of a pallet 12 carried by the escapement feeler which, by the descent of the feeler, has been brought into the path of thetooth i, as clearly'shown in Fig. 22. The forward swing of the magazine is thus stopped when the transferrer and escapement feeler are down before the next reserve stack of shuttles is moved for- .ward clear from the supports G and H, as

shown in Fig. 22. When, however, the

transferrer and feeler are again restored to their normal elevated position, the feeler as it rises first carries the pallet a above the first tooth i of the magazine, thus permitting the forward swing of the magazine to continue until its second tooth encounters the then elevated detent m of the feeler. The completion of the forward swing of the magazine one step brings the next stack of weftcarriers' into cooperation with the guidechute and transferrer and the weft-carriers thereof are then fed one by one into the shuttle as circumstances require by the action of the then cooperating transferrer.

It will be noted that the forward feed of the magazine is controlled by the escapement feeler and its movement is in turn controlled by the presence or absence of weft-carriers at the critical place in the guide-chute, so that the escapement feeler is weft-carriercontrolled. During the operation of the transferrer in inserting a weft-carrier into the shuttle the stack of weft-carriers in the guide-chute and in the communicating magazine channel is upheld by means of a retainer 0 (see Fig. 22) with which the transferrer is provided and which cooperates with the butts of the weft-carriers.

As thus far described, the operation and the operating mechanism are similar to that set forth in the pending application of Southwick, No. 201,054.

The first portion of the present improvements relate to the new construction and operation of the magazine. The channels E of the magazine coiiperate only with the butt ends of the weft-carriers. The tip ends of the weft-carriers are entirely free from any portion of the magazine, as is clearly shown in Fig. 8. The several channels are so constructed as to afford guides for the butt ends of the weft-carriers, including the butts proper and the bodies ofthe weft-carriers near the butts. The magazine in its construction has cross-bars L (see Fig. 2) and longitudinal ribs M which extend between channels which comprise guide surfaces N for the butts of the weft-carriers; guideplates 0 for the bodies of the weft-carriers at their but-t ends, and intermediate inwardly projecting ribs P on both sides of each channel which approach each other nearer than the outer diameter of the butts of the weftearriers at the rings 0. These ribs limit the endwise movements of the weft carriers while the guide plates O, which are beyond and outside of the ribs P, limit the lateral movements of the weft-carriers when the bodies thereof near their butt ends come in contact therewith. The distance between the walls of each channel is suiiicient to allow the free play of the weft-carriers, but, at the same time, they impose a definite limit upon the lateral play of the carriers. The ribs P which limit the endwise or outward movement of the weft-carriers not only thereby prevent the escape of the weft-carriers from the magazine but they also insure the cooperation of each weft-carrier in turn with the guide grooves 29, for the projecting rings 6 of the weft-carriers with which the guideway I of the guide-chute is equipped, as best shown in Fig. 5, and which guide-grooves facilitate the passage of the weft-carriers to the transferrer, and aid in preventing displacement of the weftcarriers. The support G (see Fig. 5) for the reserve stacks of weftcarriers in the magazine also has coincident guide-grooves p it-h which the lowermost weft-carrier of each reserve stack is maintained in proper relation by means of the limiting ribs L. Each channel also has an inner wall Q, which limits the inward endwise movement of the weft-carriers. This wall Q is likewise made of sheet metal and it and the other walls of the channels are appropriately secured to the cross-bars L and longitudinal ribs M of the magazine framework by rivets or other suitable connections which provide no projections or other obstructions within the channels. E. Each inner guide-wall Q is so constructed that while it limits the inner endwise movement of the weft-carriers, nevertheless it permits the free inclination of the weft-carriers in the channel relatively to the length thereof.

The guide-way formed by the inner guide wall Q, the ribs P, and the side guide-surfaces M for the butts of the weft-carriers presents a free passage for the said butts, there being no close or tight embrace at any point. It is necessary, however, to prevent the obstruction ofthe channel by the binding therein of the weft-carriers. This is of especial importance because it is necessary to provide for the filling of the magazine by careless people who cannot be relied upon to insert the weft-carriers with regularity, and further because owing to the shape of the weftcarriers and lack of uniformity in the amount of thread wound thereon the weft-- carriers in a single stack do not lie parallel with each other. The consequence is that a weft-carrier during its descent in its channel cannot be relied upon' to maintain its position truly perpendicular to the base of binding. This result is achieved by recess ing the inner wall Q of each channel, as by making the wall concave, as shown in Fig. 8. As the result of this construction a weftcarrier can be inclined to any position which it can possibly occupy without interfering with the free holding of its butt within the guide-way formed by the wall Q, ribs P and side guides M. This is clearly brought out in Fig. 8, wherein in one channel the weftcarrier. is shown horizontal; in the next channel it is shown inclined at an angle of about +15 degrees; while in the third channel it is shown in a perpendicular position with its butt end up. In all of these positions the buttof the weft-carrier is freely held within the guide-way of the channel, there being no point at which any portion of the butt is tightly gripped. As a consequence there can be no binding of the weft-carriers and no obstruction to their free descent by gravity. As the result of this construction. it becomes possible to feed the weft-carriers with certainty by gravity alone without the aid of any mechanical feeders cooperating with the weft-carriers.

The magazine is a swinging magazine and, preferably, it is readily lGll'lOVfliJlB from the supporting stand so as to enable it to be refilled with weft-carriers at a point remote from the loom in accordance with the invention of Stone in his Patent No. 921,909, heretofore mentioned. In the magazine of the Southwick application No. 201,034 gravity alone was relied upon to swing the magazine forward when the escapement fccler acts. In the magazine here illustrated the pivotal point is nearer the middle of the magazine than in the Southwick invention, so that gravity is not as effective and accordingly gravity is aided by a spring R (see Fig. 2) which is detachably secured at one end to the magazine D and at its other end it is cured to the stand G. This spring not only aids gravity in moving the magazine but also quiekens its movement and insures its movement during the short interval of time permitted by the action of the transferrer. It is, therefore, a desirable adjunct to the magazine even when pivoted to one side as in the case of the Sonthwick magazine.

The magazine has av projecting bracket S on its inner side (see Figs. 2, 2i and 8) which has a slot 30 (see Fig. 4:) open at its lower end within which is inserted the squared shank of a headed bolt 31. Eeyond the bracket this bolt passes through a sleeve 32 and beyond the sleeve is a plate 33 which fits over the bolt and seats against the sleeve 32. Immediately outside of the plate 33 is a washer 34 and then a nut 35 which screws onto the end of the bolt. By turning this nut the sleeve 32 is firmly clamped between the plate 33 and the bracket S, as clearly shown in Fig. 8. This affords a means of adjusting the magazine relatively to the sleeve 32 so as to insure the proper cooperation between t-he magazine and the parts carried by the stand G. The sleeve 32 constitutes the journal for the magazine. This journal fits within an open-mouthed bearing g at the upper end of the stand C (see Figs. 2 and 4;), in which the magazine swings. The open mouth of this bearing permits the lifting out and removal of the magazine when desired, the spring R (see Fig. 2) being readily detached to permit the removal and replacement of the magazine.

In case the magazine is refilled with weftcarriers when apartfrom the loom it is im portant that it should have means for holding the weft-carriers within the magazine during the filling and during the transfer to the loom. As here shown, the magazine is permanently open atits bottom but it has its top closed by a cover T. Preferably this cover is arranged approximately perpendicular to the channel E so that it may afford a base upon which the magazine can rest when inverted and during the filling operation. The magazine is carried in this inverted position to the loom and is then turned over and placed in position with the open end down. During this operation it sutlices for the attendant to place his hand upon the lowermost weft-carriers, thereby retaining them in place until the magazine has been properly connected to the stand. Thereafter the supports G and H retain the weft-carriers in place.

It is frequently desirable to remove or insert weft-carriers while the magazine is on the loom and it may also be desired to have all the refilling done at the loom. To enable thisto be done the cover T is hinged to the magazine and to this end it is provided with a hinge 36 (see Figs. 2 and 4) and it is held normally shut by the removable pin 7, as shown in Fig. 2.

As heretofore stated, when the transferrer acts its retainer 0 upholds the stack of weftcarriers above the one transferred by the transferrer, as indicated in Fig. 22. It is also important that means should be provided to cooperate with the tips of the weft-- arriers during the transfer so as to effectively uphold the stack of weft-carriers. Accordingly a spring actuated retainer U is provided for the tips of the weft-carriers, as best shown in Figs. 6, 15 and 20. This spring actuator retainer consists of a plunger moring in a fixed socket s and dcpressed by a spring t. The head a of this retainer extends over the path of the finger d of the transferrer, as shown in Figs. 3 and 6. Accordingly, when the transferrer occupies its normal elevatedposition the retainer U is held up against the tension of its actuating spring 8 so that the lower end of said retainer is out of the path of the tips of the weft-carriers in the guide-way J of the guide-chute, as indicated in Fig. 6. Normally, therefore, the active stack of weft-carriers is upheld at the tip ends by the tip of the lowermost weft-carrier resting upon the spring-upheld finger h. l Jhen, however, the transferrer descends to insert the lowermost weft-carrier into the shuttle, the tip retainer U descends also under the influence of its actuating spring t, whereby the spring retainer obstructs the guide-way J, as shown in Fig. 15. Accordingly the tip end 1) (see Fig. 15) of the next lowest weftcarrier comes in contact with -the retainer U and thereby the superimposed stack of weftcarriers is sustained at their tip ends during the transferring operation. YVhen the transferrer rises its outer finger (Z encounters the head a of the retainer U, thereby a ain removing said retainer out of the path of the tips of the weft-carriers in the guide way I.

it only remains to consider the means for taking care of the weft-ends. It will be noted that all of the stacks of weft-carriers in the magazine are confined at their butt ends only, and all of their tip ends extend out beyond the magazine, and none of them are in contact with any guiding or controlling surface excepting the tip of the lowermost weft-carrier in each reserve stack, which rests upon the fixed support H. Also, in the case of the active stack of weft-can riers the tips of those in the guide-chute rest upon the guideway J. The great number of the \\'cftcarriers, however, have their tips wholly unconnected with any part of the loom. It is accordingly necessary to provide means for taking care of the weftends so that when each weft-carrier in turn is inserted into the running shuttle its weftend or thread will. be held so that the shuttle may be threaded during its first traverse across the lay with the fresh weft-carrier and so that there shall be no entanglement of the various threads with each other or their engagement with any moving part of the loom. To these ends suitable threadguides and weft-end-holders are employed. The support H and the guide-way J for the tips of the weft-carriers are integral with a thread-platform V which extends outwardly beyond the said support and guide-way. Its construction and configuration are best shown in Figs. 1, 5, 13 and 14. This platform is rigidly secured to the stand G bythe bolts 37, and these bolts serve as the sole intermediary between the stand and the platform and the parts car,- ried thereby. .Se ured to the outer end of the platform is a forwardly extending shelf N, which is best shown in Fig. 13. This shelf at its forward edge has open threadguides 'LU, there being as many of these thread-guides as there are channels E in the magazine. Forward of the platform V is a fixed front thread guard X which is bolted to the shelf W as shown in Figs. 6 and 14. This thread-guard X extends upwardly and forwardly, as shown in Figs. 6 and 14, while the platform V extends upwardly and backwardly, as shown in the same figures. As the result the rear thread-platform and the front thread-guard between them protect the weft-ends and direct them toward the throat or thread passage-way Y between them. This passage-way Y is open at its bottom and at its end next the transferrer, its rear margin being constituted by the platform V, its front margin by the shelf V and the thread-guard X, and its outer margin by the part of the shelf W which connects with the platform V, as shown in Fig. 13. This passage-way Y, open at its inner end, provides for the free downward passage of the weft-ends as the weft-carriers are fed downwardly through the guide-chute and into the shuttle. The frontthread-guard X carries a series of closed thread-guides m (see Figs. 3 and 5), there being one of these thread-guides for each of the magazine channels E.

l/Vhen a magazine is filled 'with weft-carriers and is on the loom all of the weft-ends belonging to one stack are introduced through one of the closed thread-guides 00 and through the corresponding open threadguide The weft-end belonging to the various stacks are introduced in order, through the several open and closed threadguides. All of the weft-ends belonging to each group or stack of weft-carriers is then connected to a take-up consisting of a single yielding weft-end holder Z, one of which is shown in 7. This weft-end holder is suitably slotted to provide spring arms so as to conveniently receive and hold onto all of the weft-ends belonging to one stack or group of weft-carriers. This weighted yielding weft-end holder is thus freely suspended below the outer edge of the shelf V by the weft-ends to which it is attached. As a consequence of this arrangement and organization, as the weft-carriers in the active stack descend, thereby slackening their threads,

the weighted weft-end holder also descends,

thereby taking up the slack in the thread. It will be noted that all of the weftend carriers in the active stack descend equally together and whatever slack is afforded is taken up by the descending weighted weftend holder. There will be a difference in the, extent to which each thread is slaekened, but this is compensated for by the paying out of the weft-end from the other weft-carriers. Accordingly there are never any slack threads which might become entangled with each other or caught by moving parts of the loom. The gradual descent of the weftend holder during the feeding of the weft-carriers results in successively different portions of each thread being brought into contact with the thread-guides and consequently no one spot of the thread is weakened by continuous vibration against a fixed part of the loom; and, as the result, there is no weak place in the thread, which is apt to be broken when its weft-carrier is inserted into the shuttle and makes its first excursion across the lay. This immunity from breakage is also attributable in part to the yielding character of the weighted weft-end holder. The shock due to the introduction of the weft-carrier into the shuttle and its first traverse across the lay is not withstood by a rigid holder, but by a freely suspended holder which can yield to avoid sudden strain upon the thread. The strain on the thread can never exceed the weight of the suspended weft-end holder. As the result of this construction and organization the weftends are successfully taken care of and the weft breakage is reduced to a minimum. Suitable provisions are made to receive the spent weft-carriers as they are discharged from the shuttle and also to receive the weftend holders as each stack of weft-carriers in the magazine becomes entirely exhausted.

The tip retainer U is conveniently mounted upon the front thread-guard X and the guide-way J has preferably an upwardly projecting flange y at its outer end to prevent the endwise movement of the weft-carriers. This flange, however, does not extend up far enough (see Fig. 15) to interfere with the paying out of the thread from the weftcarrier.

The forward swing of the magazine is limited by a fixed stop (see Fi 5 and 21) on the stand (l. \Vhen the magazine is thus stopped its rear channel communicates with the guide-chute leading to the transferrer.

It is obvious that many changes can be made in the mechanism without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention and that different features of the improvements can be used independently.

I claim as my invention 1. An automatic weft-replenishing loom having a magazine with a guide channel for reserve weft-carriers which has means for permitting the inclination of the weft-carriers relatively to the length of the channel.

2. An automatic weft-replenishing loom having a magazine with a guide channel for reserve weft-carriers, said guide channel having means for limiting the endwise movements of the weft-carriers and for permitting their inclination relatively to the length of the channel.

3. An automatic weft-replenishing loom having a magazine with a guide channel for reserve weft-carriers which descend by gravity in said channel, said guide channel having means for limiting the endwise and lateral movements of said weft-carriers, and for permitting their inclination relatively to the length of the channel. 1

4. An automatic weft-replenishing loom having a magazine for reserve weft-carriers provided with a guide channel for the butts of the weft-carriers, said channel being recessed at its inner wall to permit the inclination of the weft-carriers relatively to the length of the channel.

5. An automatic weft-replenishing loom having a magazine for reserve weft-carriers provided with a guide channel for the butts of the weft-carriers, retaining ribs at the mouth of the channel to engage the butts yof the weft-carriers and to limit their outward movement, and guide. plates outside of said ribs for the body of the weft-carriers.

6. An automatic weft-replenishing loom having a magazine for reserve weft-carriers provided with a guide-channel for the butts of the weft-carriers, retaining ribs at the mouth of the channel to engage the butts of the weft-carriers and to limit their outward movement, an inner wall to limit the inward movement of the weft-carriers, said Wall being recessed to permit the inclination of the weft-carriers relatively to the length of the channels, and guide plates outside of said ribs for the body of said weft-carriers.

7. An automatic weft-replenishing loom having, in combination, a movable magazine with a plurality of channels each adapted to hold a stack of weft-carriers, said channels embracing only the butt portions of the weft-carriers, a fixed support for the butt ends of the reserve stacks of weft-carriers, and a fixed support upon which rests the tip end of the lowermost weft-carrier of each reserve stack.

8. An automatic weft-replenishing loom having, in combination, a movable magazine having a plurality of channels each adapted to hold a stack of weft-carriers, said channels embracing only the butt portions of the weft-carriers, and a plurality of thread guides, one for each stack of Weft-carriers, the threads extending directly from the weftcarriers in each stack to one of the threadides.

9. An automatic weft-replenishing loom having, in combination, means for feeding a weft-carrier, a guide for the weft-end of each carrier, and a movable holder for said weft-ends which moves as the weft-carrier is fed so as to change the part of the thread which contacts with saidguide.

10. An automatic weft-replenishing loom having, in combination, means for holding and feeding a weft-carrier, a thread-guide consisting of a closed thread-eye through which the thread from the weft-carrier passes, a second open threadguide over which the thread passes, and a weight suspended from the end of the thread.

11. An automatic weft-replenishing loom having, in combination, a magazine adapted to hold a group of weft-carriers, a threadgulde common to all of the threads of the Weft-carriers in a group, and a weight suspended from the ends of the group of threads.

12. A magazine for an automatic weftreplenishing loom having a plurality of channels which are open at their bottoms and closed at their tops while in position on the loom, said closed top constituting a retainer for the Weft-carriers when the magazine is inverted and removed from the loom. I

13. A detachable magazine for an automatic weft-replenishing loom having a closed top, substantially perpendicular to the weft-carrier holding channels, said top serving to maintain the magazine in stable equilibrium when removed from the loom and standing up-side-down.

14:. An automatic weft-replenishing loom having, in combination, a movable magazine having a plurality of channels to hold a plu rality of stacks of reserve weft-carriers at their butts only, each channel being open at its bottom, and a fixed support beneath the reserve stacks of weft-carriers, said support being grooved to accommodate the projections on the butts of the weft-carriers.

15. An automatic weft-replenishing loom having, in combination, a movable magazine, an escapement mechanism cooperating with the magazine, and a spring for movlng the magazine when permitted to move by the escapement action.

16. An automatic weft-replenishing loom having, in combination, a guide chute for reserve weft-carriers, a transfer for transferring a wett-carrier from the guide chute to the loom, a spring-retainer for the tips of the weft-carriers, said spring-retainer being maintained idle by the transferrer, but, when the transferrer acts, being moved by its spring so as to obstruct the movement of the weft-carriers along said guide-chute.

17. A magazine for automatic weft-re plenishing looms having a weft-carrier channel with a concave inner Wall.

18. An automatic weft-replenishing loom having, in combination, a movable magazine carrying a plurality of groups of weft-carriers, a plurality of thread-guides one for each group of Weft-carriers, and a platform between the thread-guides and the weftcar- V riers over which the threads pass.

19. An automatic weft-rep1enishing loom having, in combination, a rear thread-platform, and a front thread-guard, said guard and platform having a thread passage-way between them which is open at its end to ward the transferrer.

20. An automatic weft-replenishing loom having, in combination, means for feeding weft-carriers to transferring position, and

a take-up which moves to draw upon the threads as the weft-carriers are so fed to take up slack caused by the feed of the weftcarriers.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDVARD S. STIMPSON.

Witnesses GEORGE OTIS DRAPER, ERNEST W. 001). 

